Preparedness

Gustav is knocking at our door and we are being told to be prepared. Walter & I are actually more prepared than we've ever been and I'm glad. We have never owned a generator of any sort. We made it through Katrina with no electricity for a week, with only 1 fan and 1 tv. When we built our house, we installed a backup generator that runs on propane and will run most of the lights in the house, refrigerator, freezer, etc. It will not run the air conditioner, but we bought 3 small window units that we can put in different rooms if needed. We have gone and bought cases of bottled water, batteries (for what, i'm not sure), filled up our cars with gas, bought some canned food, although we will be able to cook on the stove or bbq, and should even have internet access, if we hooked everything up right. So, now we just wait. It is my understanding that busses are beginning to bring people from New Orleans to shelters north of Baton Rouge today/tomorrow. Skeery.

Tonight is STEAK NIGHT!!! For my new readers, a restaurant near my house, Hilltop, has the best steak ever and they have a steak special on Thursday nights. Walter & I go nearly every Thursday night with our neighbors/friends, Cathy & Brent. I am excited to go tonight because this was not in our plans! Cathy & Brent were supposed to leave for New York this morning, so we were skipping it and would have been joining them in New York tomorrow. Steak night isn't as exciting as going to New York, but I don't have to fly there and it is really pretty darn good!!

My shirts that I ordered with my birthday gift certificates from Land's End came today! They took a little longer than I thought because I never actually SUBMITTED the order online!! The biggest part of placing an order is actually PAYING for the stuff!! I realized what I'd done and went back and placed the order and it got here really fast! My sista, Kimi, always likes to see my new shirts, so here they are!

I bought a white & a beige shirt like this to wear under other shirts & blouses when it's cooler.

And here is my ever faithful, giant cat, GoGo, guarding my new possessions!

Questions & Comments:

Chelle asked if we could postpone the New York trip and go later this year. I would think so since Brent's boss owns the house. He seems to let them use it whenever they want, so maybe we can go some other time.

Lula asked if I am safe re: Gustav, and I would have to say yes. We don't ever get evacuated from our area, although if there was an evacuation order, I would surely go. I don't think Walter would want to, but if I whined enough, I know he would. I usually start to worry that we should have left during a storm, but our house is safe and I think we'll be fine here. We do live on a river, but that has not caused any flooding or problems in the past. Our house is up on a hill from the water, but there are many low lying homes that will flood in our area. And thanks for asking!

And for Joe...my beloved friend in real life, Joe. Thank you for clarifying that Walter is not a drug dealer or something. I laughed at your comment, but then realized I really didn't know what he gave you! I remember the story and how bad your head was hurting, and it seems like you kept taking that afterwards cause it worked so well. And yes, I remember the other bad story that weekend. I'm not sure I could ever forget! That's a post for another year! LOL

Have a nice night!!

Girl Scout Cookies Anyone???

Due to an overwhelming response, I will tell how my Girl Scout career came to a sudden end. I find it funny how that story stirred interest, but nobody commented on my random fact that my father was mentioned in some Louisiana history books. That is actually a juicier story!

Ok, so, I was a Girl Scout for a couple of years along with most of my close friends from elementary & middle school. Most of these same friends are the ones I had dinner with a couple of weeks ago, and yes, the Girl Scout story had to be rehashed and that is probably why it was on my mind when I thought of random comments about myself. Anyway, we all went to camp the first year and it was fun, we behaved, and were still allowed to call ourselves Girl Scouts when the camping trip ended. There were cabins that were shared by 3 or 4 people, and we were closely supervised. Things didn't go quite so well the second year.

We were all around 13 years old by then. The camp had built some new, really large cabins, and I think that is where the trouble started. Everyone was in the SAME cabin - probably 20 or more girls and i'm guessing the adults either didn't stay with us or weren't with us most of the time. I'm guessing this because I clearly recall my friends, Tracy & Gail sitting on the VERY HIGH beams near the ceiling, writing in permanent marker ALL OVER the wood in the new cabin, etc. A small group of us were just silly and determined not to cooperate, for some reason. We hid when it was time to go hiking and nobody could find us. We snuck off to the kitchen and made long distance calls to a friend who had moved to another state. We refused to do pretty much anything that was asked of us and to top it off, it was discovered that we wrote all over the walls and it wasn't coming off. We were generally just difficult, non-compliant, and down right annoying. But none of that got us sent home. Someone finally got some control over us and made us go hiking with them the next time they went. Our Girl Scout leader was a lady we didn't like, and when we were hiking, the poor lady tripped and fell. She rolled down a hill, for what seemed like a really long way. While everyone else was rushing to try to help the lady, me, Gail, and Robin began to laugh. And we kept laughing. And we wouldn't stop laughing. So it was decided quickly that was the last straw! And some of the others who were equally as bad as us, but didn't laugh, got to stay, while the three of us were packed up and driven a couple of hours home by a rather odd male chaperone who was on the camping trip with us.

To make matters worse, it was late at night - probably 10 or 11pm, and we wouldn't tell the man where we lived. Once we got to Baton Rouge, he pulled into an empty parking lot and demanded that we tell him where we lived, but we still wouldn't. He came around to the side of the car and grabbed my friend, Gail, by the arm and jerked her out of the car, so we told him where my house was. He dropped the 3 of us off at my house, didn't come to the door to tell my mom what happened, and my mom was a practicing alcoholic at the time and bizarre and chaotic things occurred all the time, so she opened the door, listened to our story that we were homesick and had come home, and then was kind enough to drop Robin & Gail off at their houses! The next day when the Girl Scout leader called, things weren't so pretty!!!

Another random comment I made about myself was that I would be the crazy cat lady if I could get away with it. Yes, I did mean this!! I love cats SO much and can't resist kittens for anything! I only have 2 cats, but that is because Walter has laid down the law after I took in 9 kittens this year, raised them and found them homes, plus took care of 4 neglected cats from next door, until we found them homes (sortof). I want to foster kittens through the local animal welfare society, bring them to pet adoption days, and help them find homes, but so far, Walter has veto'd that! I really love cats!

Someone else asked for a picture showing the river view of our back yard.

Another reader asked if the screened porch came with the house. Actually, we built the house and the porch! We finished the house a year ago and finished the porch last month. We have a neighbor who does that type of work on the side and he supplied the materials and helped Walter do the work, so i'm not sure where the materials came from.

I received an Award today from Tonya at Small Town Louisiana Girl! It is the Brillante Weblog Award and I am honored to receive it! The rules say that I must pass the award along to 7 blogs that I read, so here we go!
1. Patti at Nonna's News
2. Renee at Cutie Booty Cakes
3. Renie at Renie Burghardt's World
4. Kathi at Tales From the Homefront
5. Dorothy at Daffofil Dreams
6. Nik at Exceptional Voyage
7. LaDonna at My Life

And thanks again Tonya!!! I really appreciate it!!

My friend, Kimi, gave me a gift certificate for my birthday this month and I wanted to show the shirt & 2 sun catchers that I bought with it! They came in today and I love them!!

And finally, work was busy today, but it was a good day. I got my computer working in my office, where I will be spending 3 - 4 days each week, and that made me really happy! Without a computer, I have to go out into the library and check my email, make my schedule, do my mileage form, etc. while all my stuff is in the office and has to be drug back and forth.

No matter how many times we change the number to our fax line, we ALWAYS get calls from bill collectors for other people. It drives me CRAZY! The fax machine needs to be set up correctly to pick up when a call comes on that line, but Walter hasn't managed to get around to fixing that yet! So, this evening, the fax line rings (it's a different ring for the fax line), so I answer it.

Man: Can I speak to Susan?

Me: You have the wrong number.

Man: Is this ***-***-****?

Me: Yes, but there is no Susan here.

Man: Do you know a Susan Webb?

Me: YOU HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER!!!

Man: Susan gave me this number when she filled out an application.

Me: This is the FOURTH TIME i'm saying this to you - you HAVE the WRONG NUMBER!!

Man: Ok, bye Grumpy!

It took me a few minutes to stop laughing, and then I called the number back and asked for a supervisor and told them that the mean man called me names AND harrassed me. I'm sure noone cares, but it made me feel better to tell on him!

Walter has a board meeting to go to tonight, so Cameron & I are going to be hanging out at home. I hope you all have a good evening!

Sunday

So, I finished celebrating my birthday today with lunch at Albasha in Baton Rouge where my mom & step-dad treated Walter & I to lunch. We had a nice visit with the folks, and I got my new crock pot and a cute shirt! When I get the shirts I ordered with my birthday gift certificates from Land's End, i'll post some pictures of them too. My sista, Kim, always likes to see my new shirts!! The crock pot is a Versa ware Pro and you can saute veggies or brown meat directly on the stove with the removable stoneware pot thingie, then you can cook with it in the crock pot, put it in the oven, put it in the microwave, refrigerate it, or even freeze food in it! And it has a really cool feature - a timer that automatically sets the crock pot to warm when the time is up.

Walter's metal wall porch project came out really well. We put the wall at the end of the porch to block the neighbor's view directly into our living room, as well as to block our view of their junk in their yard and on their porch. The wall really looked kind of trashy, so Walter said he'd come up with a plan to cover it and give it a rustic/country kind of feel. I tell you, my Mr. Wizard can do anything and he really made this work, and in just a day! There is a shelf above the wall that we will put some fake plants on or something. We have decided to wait until after Walter's 50th party next month to buy furniture for the porch so that we can put tables & chairs on the porch for the party. The guest list is pretty large and we have 50 RSVPs so far, and another 50 who haven't decided yet. Yes, Walter is from a LARGE family!!!

We drained the pool 1/2 way on Friday, fixed the leaky connector, then refilled it yesterday. And what do we get?? GREEN water again!! When we first filled the pool, it took a week for the water to turn blue, and then it was really pretty and inviting. It makes me wonder what is in our tap water that would leave the water looking GREEN?? It doesn't escape my attention how close the color of the river is to the color of the pool! Yuck!!

Cameron will be home tomorrow after school and I'm always glad when he's back here. I hope he isn't still mad about the computer, but if he is, that isn't going to change my mind. As it is, he'll have THREE HOURS a day to use the computer. How can that not be enough?? If his grades look good, then we can talk about some extra time, but honestly, he doesn't need any more than that. It's sad because all of the kids have computers and that is how they socialize now - through games, instant messenger, email, myspace, facebook, etc., but hey! GO OUTSIDE!!!!!

Nothing much going on over here tonight. Maybe if it would stop raining for a full hour, we might could go sit on the swing or something. Walter put some cool lights on the pier, so maybe I can get some pictures of them tonight.

Be sure to visit tomorrow! Debbie from Blog Around the World is kicking off her world tour in the morning and the first stop is my wonderful state of LOUISIANA!!! I'm expecting lots of visitors and hopefully some new friends!! Yay!!

Birthday Girl!!

Thank you to everyone for the birthday messages, cards, and gifts! And a great, big, SPECIAL thank you to Lizzy for my birthday poem! Everyone, please amuse me and go read it now at The Journey to the Hot Tub! However, it is unfortunate that after sharing a VERY traumatic intimate detail with her, that she chose to torment me with my own name, but it's ok, because on her birthday, I will write her a poem and i'm sure i'll have some good rhyming words to use...like fever, believer...ha ha ha...but anyway, it was an awesome poem and I thank you Lizzy!

I collect some of the Willow Tree figurines, well, the ones that have some meaning to me, and the one in the picture above is my favorite one because that IS me!! I love being the birthday girl and I always milk it for all it's worth!!! Birthdays do have some downsides, besides the obvious getting older aspect, like your drivers license expiring. Blah. Walter's expires next month, so we will go on his next Friday off and get them renewed.

I am one of those people who will dig in the closet to see what i'm getting for my birthday or Christmas, so imagine my surprise when I went to my wishlist on Amazon.com to get the name of the crock pot I wanted and was going to see if I could order it with other gift certificates that I got, and it says the item has been PURCHASED!! WOOOHOOO!!! That's my sneaky little mom, I'm sure. She gave me a $50 Land's End gift certificate via email the other day, but apparently that was to trick me and give me the Crock pot too on Sunday when we go to lunch at ALBASHA!! Michelle asked what type of food is served at Albasha - it is Lebanese and SOOOO good! So anyway, yay for my crock pot! It is a really cool one that you can use the inner part to sautee onions on the stove, you can freeze stuff in it, microwave in it, etc.

So, anyway, we went to dinner tonight with Cathy & Brent at Hilltop and not only did I get a delicious steak dinner, but a free ice cream dessert that Cathy & I shared. It was a wonderful birthday!!

Work was great today! I love those days that fly by so fast that it's time to go home before you know it. And I get off work at 2:30, so really, the day flies by really fast sometimes. I met the little boy who is only coming to school for an hour each day this week, then we'll try to get him to come longer next week. He has tons of support at school and had a great day (or hour) today and said he really wants to be able to come to school. I just hope that lasts!! We met with him first thing this morning and did the most important thing - broke the classroom rules down one by one to be sure he understood. Instead of just saying "be respectful," we explained to him what behaviors are considered respectful, etc. Sometimes we don't think about the fact that due to parenting or cultural differences, some kids don't know what the rules actually mean. After we got 1 hour boy (let's call him 1H) off to class, I took my co-worker to another of my old schools to show her around, and now i'm done with that. Everyone at my schools should be able to handle things on their own now, and that is cool. Afterwards, I went to a meeting with the special education teachers at "Elementary School 2" (ES2) and was glad to be invited and involved with their staff. The biggest stress in my job, to me, is making sure I have office space in every school on the day i'm there. I am so excited and relieved that i've already got that worked out. I really like the west side schools so far, so everything is working out really well.

Questions & Comments:

Kim and I talked about insurance on my new car - the car salesman was totally wrong and my insurance did go up! It was only about $20/month, but still, she told me that story about the Honda being a theft risk and the insurance being higher!

Kim & Lesley both mentioned not knowing that you could buy/sell books on Half.com. I would think that renting the books is the best idea, but buying and selling them on Half.com is good too. I knew you could get college books, but wouldn't have thought about high school books being on there.

Lesley left me a comment how I enjoy my job & care about the kids I work with and I just have to say that it's really true. I take my job very seriously and really do care about the kids I work with. I get frustrated with teachers who are mean or don't take time to help kids who need something. My big mouth is finally good for something, because I am speaking up for kids who are falling through the cracks! So, thank you for those kind words, Lesley!

Monday

I had my bi-weekly supervision session with my social work supervisor today and I really LOVE meeting with her! I have to have 4 hours of supervision per month that I work (hence - no supervision over the summer) for 2 out of 3 years to become a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). I don't intend to leave my job once i'm licensed, but I would like to have a small private practice to work with kids in the afternoons a few days a week, but anyway, that's WAY off from now, but I do have to meet with a supervisor. One of my co-workers is planning to get certified to supervise Courtney & I, but for now, we are both using a former professor for supervision. But I do LOVE meeting with my supervisor and consider her to be my own personal therapist sometimes!!! Today I caught my supervisor up on all the changes and what I will be doing this year. She is going to do group supervision with Courtney & I, as well as my friend, Christine! Yay!

I am so proud of myself sometimes for using my brain! Cameron's school sends home an entire set of books for the students to keep at home for the year so they don't have to bring them back & forth every day. And that's great. And super convenient. Unless, your child lives in 2 houses! Cameron is with me 1 week and his dad 1 week, so that is a LOT of moving books back & forth. I figured out last year to go to Half.com and buy the books he has so that we can have a set at each house, then sell them back the next year! Yesterday, I paid $128 for textbooks for this year, and sold 2 books (YES, the SAME day I put them on there) for $95, plus there is one more that hasn't sold yet. Work it out, girl!

The cat is out of the bag, and for once, it isn't a cat in my house!!! I have been planning a surprise party for Walter's 50th birthday in September and trying to "feel him out" to see if he wanted a party or not, cause i'd really rather him be involved if he really did want a party, and yesterday while we were having lunch at the Grand Wall (yummmmy), he said that he would like to have a party. So I said, ok, well, it's on September 20th!!! I've been working on this for awhile, and my next door neighbor, Leon, was going to have everyone at HIS house to fool Walter, including Leon's brother-in-law who is cooking a huge pasta Jambalaya over there for the party. And all that's still on, just now, Walter can invite who he wants and plan what he'd like to have, which is great with me. He says I couldn't have pulled this off, but yeah, I could have!!

I got ANOTHER Land's End gift certificate today for my birthday (on Wednesday) from my mom! I guess that means the crock pot will have to go on my Christmas list, but i'm really excited about the Land's End stuff and ordered 4 really cute shirts today!! Yay!! I had just gotten an email for free shipping, so I hit the jackpot!! Woohoo!!!

Cathy & Brent came over last night to see the car and I took Cathy on a ride (top DOWN of course) to Popeyes to pick up dinner for all of us & Cameron. We watched a little of the Olympics (Walter's latest obsession) and had a fun visit. We are going to dinner Wednesday night for my birthday instead of Thursday (steak night), so i'm looking forward to that.

And hey...leave me a comment so I know that you're here!!! I'd love to come read your blog too!!!

Questions & Comments:

Kim asked if my car is a standard like my old one - no. It's an automatic transmission. And i'm betting Kayli's insurance is higher because of her age.

Saturday

Walter & I went to the Ford dealership today to test drive a car similar to the ones I want to consider, just different colors, and ended up buying a used '08 Torch Red (instead of Candy Apple Red) convertible that was on the lot! We were not intending to buy anything today, but this car was just what I wanted, plus $5,000 cheaper, still has 2 years left on it's original warranty, and had 12,000 miles on it. It is SO cute!! They had "wild thing" colored on the windshield and I saw it right when we drove up and I told Walter, "that car is calling me!!" They gave us exactly what we owed on the Honda and that sealed the deal! My note is LESS than the one for the Honda and i'd been trying hard just to get the note CLOSE to what the Honda was, plus I am pretty sure my insurance will go down (that seems backwards since the Mustang is a sports car - but it's true - the Honda is a theft risk). So anyway, meet my new baby!!!!


The dealership is going to detail the car whenever I feel like bringing it back, because they didn't get to it today. It really looks fine, but i'll bring it one day and they can do what they want to. Yay!!

I'm getting ready to go to dinner in Baton Rouge with 5 or 6 of my friends from high school that I haven't seen in probably 20 - 25 YEARS!! One of my friends, Holli, lives about 10 miles from me and we're going to ride together. I think the last time I saw her was when I was 16! I am 42!! I'm really excited!! We shouldn't be too late, so maybe i'll post some pictures when I get home.

I got a gift certificate to Land's End from my sister, Donna, for my birthday (which is Wednesday), so i'm excited about that too! I love to buy things!!! My mom is taking us to lunch next Sunday and I think she's getting me a cool crock pot that I told her I want!

Well, i'm off to see my friends! Have a great weekend!

Wednesday

The 2 days of training for work has really put a dent in my blogging time!!! The training was ok, but most of it didn't apply to what I do, but I do like to know what's going on around the schools and to be involved with different programs when I can be. Our school system is extremely involved with PBS (Positive Behavior Support) and is trying to get it working right in all of our schools. The idea is to encourage the positive behavior rather than focus on punishing the negative behavior, which with 85% of kids will lead to using positive behavior. Of course, I work with the other 15%. I still don't have to go back to work until August 6, but signed up for one other day of training next week.

I got my IPhone yesterday!! It took a week for it to come in, which isn't bad. I ordered the 16GB white phone and most people ordered the 8GB black phone and theirs are way more backordered than mine. I am still figuring out what all it can do, but it is very cool. My biggest project so far is figuring how to put ringtones on it. Apparently you have to buy a song (or use one you've already bought) and then make a short ringtone out of it and BUY the shorter version! Crazy! I only want a couple, so it's no big deal, but when I tried it, it didn't work! So, that will keep me busy today.

We were up late last night dealing with the issue with our boys again. Stacy & Bryce came over and we talked with them for awhile. The 3rd boy did something beyond what Cameron & Bryce did and it could cause some trouble down the road, so we are going next week to be "proactive" and have the boys admit what they did. I hope that the person we are talking to will appreciate the boys' honesty and help this be a teaching experience, but we aren't sure what will happen. I do think this is the right thing to do, so it's what we are doing. I called the other boy's parents yesterday and he is welcome to come with us, but if he doesn't, I let them know that we will be naming names.

Walter & I went to Cathy & Brent's for dinner last night. She cooked spaghetti and it was really good! I didn't go back on my diet until today, so I ate spaghetti AND had ice cream for dessert! Yum!! I have gained back 4 lbs. since I messed up my diet on Saturday, so i'm back on it today and trying to figure out how to add back carbs without going crazy.

Questions & Comments:
Lesley asked when we are going to New York. We are leaving on Friday, August 29th & coming back on Monday, September 1. Cameron will not be going with us. As far as my brother-in-law's bay house, it probably holds A LOT of people!! It is huge! It is built off the ground, so it is only one story, but underneath the house is set up with tables & chairs everywhere to hold lots of people. He even put an elevator in the house!

I hope you all have a great day!

It's Friday!!

I went and ordered my IPhone today and I am so excited!!! Nobody has them in stock and it will take 10 - 21 days to come in, which should work out with my August birthday!! I watched a 30 minute video on all of the features of the phone and it is incredible! I can't wait to get it! Happy birthday to me!!!

Walter & our neighbor, Allen, are working hard this morning on our screened porch! It is really going to make a difference, not to mention, make it possible to actually sit on the porch when we want to. Between birds slamming into the window (yes, that still happens daily), mosquitos, bugs, and the weather, it is really unpleasant to try to sit out there. Also, my cats will be able to go out on the porch and soak up some sun. We are going to get some white rocking chairs to put out there and that is really going to look nice. I'll take some pictures of what they get done today.
I called the court in Harris County, TX this morning and JP's co-defendant's attorney is apparently dying and has to be reappointed, so that trial is reset, but I don't know the date yet. If it's after JP's trial, I could care less what happens, but if he is tried first, I will have someone there to know what is going on. It would have been nice if both trials really happened in the summer while i'm off of work, but as usual, I just deal with it as it comes. Something really weird that the court man told me is that they don't even know which trial will start on the day one is scheduled. He said there will be 4 or 5 scheduled and when the attorneys show up, they all go in a back room with the judge and he decides which one is most ready to start. Yikes. JP's attorney is top notch and has a great relationship with the court, so maybe that will help us somehow.

I am very proud of myself for saving some money today!!! I was looking at new planners yesterday because mine is expiring and thought about trying to find an online planner that would work good for me. Walter suggested I try google's calendar, so I did, and I LOVE it!! I can access it online and print it if I need to! And it will automatically update birthdays & things for me. Yeah!

Questions & Comments:

Hilltop closes a couple of times a year so that they can take a vacation! It is a family run restaurant and I guess they don't think their employees can manage without them or maybe want to give everyone a vacation?? They also randomly close when they have family events (like graduations, wedding receptions) at the restaurant. Must be nice!!

Thanks to everyone for the comments on my bookcases. They aren't actually white, but a cream color that matches the trim in our house as well as our kitchen appliances. Here is a picture of the kitchen.
I hope you all have a nice Friday!!

Worn out Wednesday!!!

Nah, it really wasn't that bad, just that I'm not used to having small kids in the house and especially ones who don't listen very well and fight all the time. Yikes!! But, i've been around these kids since they were born and they pretty much know I don't put up with all that and they don't push me too far. Emily (13) and Ava (5) have been angels and are very pleasant to have around. Payton (8) and Camille (7) are so mean to each other and fight all the time that it's difficult to have them here together, but we managed. I even let the best behaved two pick where they wanted to sleep and that left Payton & Camille sleeping in a room together, but they did ok. Did I mention that Payton got up at 5:30am? Yikes. My kids at least slept until 7ish (don't get up til you see the sun!!!) and Landen and Mack will easily sleep until 9, so I'm a little spoiled there. So anyway, they swam a lot, fished with Walter, went for a boat ride, ate pizza, made all sorts of crafts, watched a movie, and were in bed for 10pm. I will be loading them all in the car around 11 to head home, which is over an hour from here.

My birthday is August 13th and I have decided what I want: the new IPhone 3G!! I am eligible for an upgrade on my AT&T cellular account, so I can get the 16GB white IPhone for $299. I am not one to buy all the latest gadgets and have never even used an IPhone, but I just plain want one!! I still have to see what the monthly service costs because i'm hearing different things, but so far, this is my plan!

My diet is going great! I ate the cheese & topping off the kids' pizza last night and it was SO good!! I cooked a Bubba burger later and really wasn't hungry at all. I have decided to treat myself to a bowl of that Bluebell Candy Jar ice cream when I lose 4 more pounds and then, with only a couple more to lose, I will get off the really strict phase of Atkins and just work on eating less carbs and maintaining my weight. I feel really good and have to say there is nothing bulging out of my clothes anywhere!

Walter has a board meeting tonight, so I will be all alone (in a QUIET house!) and will probably just relax and play on my computer or read a book. I have certainly earned it!